scholarly journals On the potential for a bottom active layer below coastal permafrost: the impact of seawater on permafrost degradation imaged by electrical resistivity tomography (Hornsund, SW Spitsbergen)

Geomorphology ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 293 ◽  
pp. 347-359 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marek Kasprzak ◽  
Mateusz C. Strzelecki ◽  
Andrzej Traczyk ◽  
Marta Kondracka ◽  
Michael Lim ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Electrical Resistivity ◽  
Active Layer ◽  
Electrical Resistivity Tomography ◽  
Permafrost Degradation ◽  
Resistivity Tomography ◽  
The Impact

scholarly journals Detailed detection of fast changes in the active layer using quasi-continuous electrical resistivity tomography (Deception Island, Antarctica)

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohammad Farzamian ◽  
Gonçalo Vieira ◽  
Fernando A. Monteiro Santos ◽  
Borhan Yaghoobi Tabar ◽  
Christian Hauck ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Electrical Resistivity ◽  
Snow Cover ◽  
Active Layer ◽  
Electrical Resistivity Tomography ◽  
Deception Island ◽  
Freezing And Thawing ◽  
Resistivity Tomography ◽  
Thaw Depth ◽  
Set Up ◽  
The Impact

Abstract. Climate induced warming of permafrost soils is a global phenomenon, with regional and site-specific variations, which are not fully understood. In this context, a 2D automated electrical resistivity tomography (A-ERT) system was installed for the first time in Antarctica at Deception Island, associated to the existing Crater Lake site of the Circumpolar Active Layer Monitoring Network (CALM-S) I) to evaluate the feasibility of installing and running autonomous ERT monitoring stations in remote and extreme environments such as Antarctica, II) to monitor subsurface freezing and thawing processes on a daily and seasonal basis and to map the spatial and temporal variability of thaw depth, and III) to study the impact of short-lived extreme meteorological events on active layer dynamics. Measurements were repeated at 4-hour intervals during a full year, enabling the detection of seasonal trends, as well as short-lived resistivity changes reflecting individual meteorological events. The latter is important to distinguish between (1) long-term climatic trends and (2) the impact of anomalous seasons on the ground thermal regime. Our full-year dataset shows large and fast temporal resistivity changes during the seasonal active layer freezing and thawing and indicates that our system set-up can successfully map spatiotemporal thaw depth variability along the experimental transect at very high temporal resolution. Largest resistivity change took place during the freezing season in April when low temperatures induce an abrupt phase change in the active layer in the absence of a snow cover. The seasonal thawing of the active layer is associated with a slower resistivity decrease during October due to the presence of a snow cover and the corresponding zero-curtain effect. Detailed investigation of the daily resistivity variations reveals several periods with rapid and sharp resistivity changes of the near-surface layers due to the brief surficial refreezing of the active layer in summer or brief thawing of the active layer during winter as a consequence of short-lived meteorological extreme events. These results emphasize the significance of the continuous A-ERT monitoring set-up which enables to detect fast changes in the active layer during short-lived extreme meteorological events. Based on this first complete year-round A-ERT monitoring data set in Deception Island, we believe that this system shows high potential for autonomous applications in remote and harsh polar environments such as Antarctica.

scholarly journals Detailed detection of active layer freeze–thaw dynamics using quasi-continuous electrical resistivity tomography (Deception Island, Antarctica)

2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 1105-1120
Author(s):  
Mohammad Farzamian ◽  
Gonçalo Vieira ◽  
Fernando A. Monteiro Santos ◽  
Borhan Yaghoobi Tabar ◽  
Christian Hauck ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Electrical Resistivity ◽  
Snow Cover ◽  
Active Layer ◽  
Electrical Resistivity Tomography ◽  
Deception Island ◽  
Freezing And Thawing ◽  
Resistivity Tomography ◽  
Thaw Depth ◽  
The Impact ◽  
First Time

Abstract. Climate-induced warming of permafrost soils is a global phenomenon, with regional and site-specific variations which are not fully understood. In this context, a 2-D automated electrical resistivity tomography (A-ERT) system was installed for the first time in Antarctica at Deception Island, associated to the existing Crater Lake site of the Circumpolar Active Layer Monitoring – South Program (CALM-S) – site. This setup aims to (i) monitor subsurface freezing and thawing processes on a daily and seasonal basis and map the spatial and temporal variability in thaw depth and to (ii) study the impact of short-lived extreme meteorological events on active layer dynamics. In addition, the feasibility of installing and running autonomous ERT monitoring stations in remote and extreme environments such as Antarctica was evaluated for the first time. Measurements were repeated at 4 h intervals during a full year, enabling the detection of seasonal trends and short-lived resistivity changes reflecting individual meteorological events. The latter is important for distinguishing between (1) long-term climatic trends and (2) the impact of anomalous seasons on the ground thermal regime. Our full-year dataset shows large and fast temporal resistivity changes during the seasonal active layer freezing and thawing and indicates that our system setup can resolve spatiotemporal thaw depth variability along the experimental transect at very high temporal resolution. The largest resistivity changes took place during the freezing season in April, when low temperatures induce an abrupt phase change in the active layer in the absence of snow cover. The seasonal thawing of the active layer is associated with a slower resistivity decrease during October due to the presence of snow cover and the corresponding zero-curtain effect. Detailed investigation of the daily resistivity variations reveals several periods with rapid and sharp resistivity changes of the near-surface layers due to the brief surficial refreezing of the active layer in summer or brief thawing of the active layer during winter as a consequence of short-lived meteorological extreme events. These results emphasize the significance of the continuous A-ERT monitoring setup which enables detecting fast changes in the active layer during short-lived extreme meteorological events. Based on this first complete year-round A-ERT monitoring dataset on Deception Island, we believe that this system shows high potential for autonomous applications in remote and harsh polar environments such as Antarctica. The monitoring system can be used with larger electrode spacing to investigate greater depths, providing adequate monitoring at sites and depths where boreholes are very costly and the ecosystem is very sensitive to invasive techniques. Further applications may be the estimation of ice and water contents through petrophysical models or the calibration and validation of heat transfer models between the active layer and permafrost.

Decennial multi-approach monitoring of thermo-hydro-mechanical processes, Kammstollen outdoor laboratory, Zugspitze (Germany)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Riccardo Scandroglio ◽  
Till Rehm ◽  
Jonas K. Limbrock ◽  
Andreas Kemna ◽  
Markus Heinze ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Electrical Resistivity ◽  
Electrical Resistivity Tomography ◽  
Environmental Research ◽  
Permafrost Degradation ◽  
Earth Surface ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Resistivity Tomography ◽  
Near Surface ◽  
Permafrost Rock ◽  
Austrian Alps

<p>The warming of alpine bedrock permafrost in the last three decades and consequent reduction of frozen areas has been well documented. Its consequences like slope stability reduction put humans and infrastructures at high risk. 2020 in particular was the warmest year on record at 3000m a.s.l. embedded in the warmest decade.</p><p>Recently, the development of electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) as standard technique for quantitative permafrost investigation allows extended monitoring of this hazard even allowing including quantitative 4D monitoring strategies (Scandroglio et al., in review). Nevertheless thermo-hydro-mechanical dynamics of steep bedrock slopes cannot be totally explained by a single measurement technique and therefore multi-approach setups are necessary in the field to record external forcing and improve the deciphering of internal responses.</p><p>The Zugspitze Kammstollen is a 850m long tunnel located between 2660 and 2780m a.s.l., a few decameters under the mountain ridge. First ERT monitoring was conducted in 2007 (Krautblatter et al., 2010) and has been followed by more than one decade of intensive field work. This has led to the collection of a unique multi-approach data set of still unpublished data. Continuous logging of environmental parameters such as rock/air temperatures and water infiltration through joints as well as a dedicated thermal model (Schröder and Krautblatter, in review) provide important additional knowledge on bedrock internal dynamics. Summer ERT and seismic refraction tomography surveys with manual and automated joints’ displacement measurements on the ridge offer information on external controls, complemented by three weather stations and a 44m long borehole within 1km from the tunnel.</p><p>Year-round access to the area enables uninterrupted monitoring and maintenance of instruments for reliable data collection. “Precisely controlled natural conditions”, restricted access for researchers only and logistical support by Environmental Research Station Schneefernerhaus, make this tunnel particularly attractive for developing benchmark experiments. Some examples are the design of induced polarization monitoring, the analysis of tunnel spring water for isotopes investigation, and the multi-annual mass monitoring by means of relative gravimetry.</p><p>Here, we present the recently modernized layout of the outdoor laboratory with the latest monitoring results, opening a discussion on further possible approaches of this extensive multi-approach data set, aiming at understanding not only permafrost thermal evolution but also the connected thermo-hydro-mechanical processes.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Krautblatter, M. et al. (2010) ‘Temperature-calibrated imaging of seasonal changes in permafrost rock walls by quantitative electrical resistivity tomography (Zugspitze, German/Austrian Alps)’, Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface, 115(2), pp. 1–15. doi: 10.1029/2008JF001209.</p><p>Scandroglio, R. et al. (in review) ‘4D-Quantification of alpine permafrost degradation in steep rock walls using a laboratory-calibrated ERT approach (in review)’, Near Surface Geophysics.</p><p>Schröder, T. and Krautblatter, M. (in review) ‘A high-resolution multi-phase thermo-geophysical model to verify long-term electrical resistivity tomography monitoring in alpine permafrost rock walls (Zugspitze, German/Austrian Alps) (submitted)’, Earth Surface Processes and Landforms.</p>

scholarly journals Mountain permafrost degradation documented through a network of permanent electrical resistivity tomography sites

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Coline Mollaret ◽  
Christin Hilbich ◽  
Cécile Pellet ◽  
Adrian Flores-Orozco ◽  
Reynald Delaloye ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Time Series ◽  
Electrical Resistivity ◽  
Electrical Resistivity Tomography ◽  
Permafrost Degradation ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Resistivity Tomography ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Mountain Permafrost ◽  
Ice Water

Abstract. Mountain permafrost is sensitive to climate change and is expected to gradually degrade in response to the ongoing atmospheric warming trend. Long-term monitoring the permafrost thermal state is a key task, but it is problematic where temperatures are close to 0 °C. The energy exchange is indeed often dominantly related to latent heat effects associated with phase change (ice/water), rather than ground warming or cooling. Consequently, it is difficult to detect significant spatio-temporal variations of ground properties (e.g. ice-water ratio) that occur during the freezing/thawing process with point scale temperature monitoring alone. Hence, electrical methods have become popular in permafrost investigations as the resistivities of ice and water differ by several orders of magnitude, theoretically allowing a clear distinction between frozen and unfrozen ground. In this study we present an assessment of mountain permafrost evolution using long-term electrical resistivity tomography monitoring (ERTM) from a network of permanent sites in the Central Alps. The time series consist of more than 1000 data sets from six sites, where resistivities have been measured on a regular basis for up to twenty years. We identify systematic sources of error and apply automatic filtering procedures during data processing. In order to constrain the interpretation of the results, we analyse inversion results and long-term resistivity changes in comparison with existing borehole temperature time series. Our results show that the resistivity data set provides the most valuable insights at the melting point. A prominent permafrost degradation trend is evident for the longest time series (19 years), but also detectable for shorter time series (about a decade) at most sites. In spite of the wide range of morphological, climatological and geological differences between the sites, the observed inter-annual resistivity changes and long-term tendencies are similar for all sites of the network.

scholarly journals Degrading Permafrost Mapped with Electrical Resistivity Tomography, Airborne Imagery and LiDAR, and Seasonal Thaw Measurements

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas A. Douglas ◽  
Christopher A. Hiemstra ◽  
Stephanie P. Saari ◽  
Kevin L. Bjella ◽  
Seth W. Campbell ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Electrical Resistivity ◽  
Electrical Resistivity Tomography ◽  
Landscape Patterns ◽  
Fire Disturbance ◽  
Permafrost Degradation ◽  
Accurate Identification ◽  
Resistivity Tomography ◽  
Elapsed Time ◽  
Time Since Fire ◽  
Discontinuous Permafrost

Accurate identification of the relationships between permafrost extent and landscape patterns helps develop airborne geophysical or remote sensing tools to map permafrost in remote locations or across large areas. These tools are particularly applicable in discontinuous permafrost where climate warming or disturbances such as human development or fire can lead to rapid permafrost degradation. We linked field-based geophysical, point-scale, and imagery surveying measurements to map permafrost at five fire scars on the Tanana Flats in central Alaska. Ground-based elevation surveys, seasonal thaw-depth profiles, and electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) measurements were combined with airborne imagery and light detection and ranging (LiDAR) to identify relationships between permafrost geomorphology and elapsed time since fire disturbance. ERT was a robust technique for mapping the presence or absence of permafrost because of the marked difference in resistivity values for frozen versus unfrozen material. There was no clear relationship between elapsed time since fire and permafrost extent at our sites. The transition zone boundaries between permafrost soils and unfrozen soils in the collapse-scar bogs at our sites had complex and unpredictable morphologies, suggesting attempts to quantify the presence or absence of permafrost using aerial measurements alone could lead to incomplete results. The results from our study indicated limitations in being able to apply airborne surveying measurements at the landscape scale toward accurately estimating permafrost extent.

scholarly journals Resolution capacity of geophysical monitoring regarding permafrost degradation induced by hydrological processes

2017 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 2957-2974 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin Mewes ◽  
Christin Hilbich ◽  
Reynald Delaloye ◽  
Christian Hauck
Keyword(s):  
Electrical Resistivity ◽  
Seismic Tomography ◽  
Field Data ◽  
Electrical Resistivity Tomography ◽  
Geophysical Methods ◽  
Phase Model ◽  
Permafrost Degradation ◽  
Resistivity Tomography ◽  
Refraction Seismic ◽  
Ice Content

Abstract. Geophysical methods are often used to characterize and monitor the subsurface composition of permafrost. The resolution capacity of standard methods, i.e. electrical resistivity tomography and refraction seismic tomography, depends not only on static parameters such as measurement geometry, but also on the temporal variability in the contrast of the geophysical target variables (electrical resistivity and P-wave velocity). Our study analyses the resolution capacity of electrical resistivity tomography and refraction seismic tomography for typical processes in the context of permafrost degradation using synthetic and field data sets of mountain permafrost terrain. In addition, we tested the resolution capacity of a petrophysically based quantitative combination of both methods, the so-called 4-phase model, and through this analysed the expected changes in water and ice content upon permafrost thaw. The results from the synthetic data experiments suggest a higher sensitivity regarding an increase in water content compared to a decrease in ice content. A potentially larger uncertainty originates from the individual geophysical methods than from the combined evaluation with the 4-phase model. In the latter, a loss of ground ice can be detected quite reliably, whereas artefacts occur in the case of increased horizontal or vertical water flow. Analysis of field data from a well-investigated rock glacier in the Swiss Alps successfully visualized the seasonal ice loss in summer and the complex spatially variable ice, water and air content changes in an interannual comparison.

scholarly journals A Comparison of Frequency Domain Electro-Magnetometry, Electrical Resistivity Tomography and Borehole Temperatures to Assess the Presence of Ice in a Rock Glacier

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacopo Boaga ◽  
Marcia Phillips ◽  
Jeannette Noetzli ◽  
Anna Haberkorn ◽  
Robert Kenner ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Electrical Resistivity ◽  
Frequency Domain ◽  
Layer Thickness ◽  
Active Layer ◽  
Electrical Resistivity Tomography ◽  
Temperature Data ◽  
Active Layer Thickness ◽  
Rock Glacier ◽  
Resistivity Tomography ◽  
Borehole Temperature

Alpine permafrost is currently warming, leading to changes such as active layer deepening and talik formation. Frequency domain electro-magnetometry (FDEM) measurements were tested as a simple and efficient method to investigate ground characteristics along two transects on the ice-rich Schafberg rock glacier in the Eastern Swiss Alps. The results were compared with electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) and ground temperature data acquired simultaneously in boreholes. FDEM provides information on the electrical properties of the ground, allowing to investigate ground-ice distribution. Our device allowed measurements to a depth of around 7 m. In ice-rich permafrost, FDEM can provide an approximation of the active layer thickness, and ice-free zones within the permafrost such as intra-permafrost taliks can be identified. This rapidly applicable geophysical method can be used to monitor ground ice distribution easily and efficiently, making it an ideal complement to borehole temperature data, which only provide point information and are costly to install and maintain. At the Schafberg site the three methods FDEM, electrical resistivity tomography and borehole temperature measurements provided similar results, with regard to active layer thickness and the presence of unfrozen zones within the ice-rich permafrost.

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